Sunday, May 28, 2017

I greet you as my wife and I have just returned from experiencing the Beaches of Normandy, which witnessed the largest and most complicated military landing in history. On that day, June 6, 1944, about 4400 Allied troops were confirmed to have been killed. At our ceremony, which was led by Dwight David Eisenhower, II, the grandson of the Allied commanding officer, I literally got tears in my eyes, and believe that you would have too! So why did this landing take place? Because the Allies believed in the triumph of Liberty over tyranny. We all owe a major and lasting debt to those troops and their families! And their efforts have helped to preserve Liberty for almost 73 years!

But now we all must truly ask ourselves: do we deserve this gift of Liberty? Do we take it seriously? Even, are we worthy? If so, what are we doing to preserve the Liberty that those soldiers bequeathed to us? Particularly today when we have discovered that our government has been surveilling us and monitoring our emails and telephone calls for years, where in some states criminal defendants, mentally fragile people and parents are not provided with skilled attorneys to represent them in often life-changing judicial proceedings? Yes, this is a complicated world, but the hallmark of Liberty must be to protect each one of us from the wrongful and arbitrary intrusions of government. President Franklin D. Roosevelt once said that if the Liberty of any one of us is reduced, it is reduced for us all. But he was the one who ordered thousands of Japanese Americans to be placed in internment camps. So no, do not solely look to those in government for the protection of Liberty, because fundamentally it is the responsibility of “We the People!” And if we fail, those lives lost on the beaches of Normandy will have seriously reduced meaning.

Judge Jim Gray (Ret.)
2012 Libertarian candidate for Vice President,
along with Governor Gary Johnson as the candidate for President

Please forward this on to your circle of friends for their consideration and to further the discussion. And by the way, these columns are now on Facebook and LinkedIn at judgejimgray, Twitter at judgejimgrayOAI, and wordpress at judgejimgray@wordpress.com. Please visit these sites for past editions, and do your part to spread the word about the importance of Liberty!

Sunday, May 21, 2017

Being dependent upon government is a cruel hoax: good for politicians and bureaucrats, but over the long (and often even short) run, terrible for the recipients. As a stark example, consider our Native Americans. We can start with an observation by Henry Ford who, although certainly not my favorite person due to his social views, said something that all people should have emblazoned upon their thought processes: “Anyone who thinks people can prosper by relying on the government should talk to the American Indian.” Fact: Native Americans have the highest poverty rate of any minority group in our country. That comes as a result of having been controlled by the federal government since the early 1800s. Their lands are held in “trust” for them by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, or BIA (which most Native Americans refer to as “Bossing Indians Around), which has a budget of $3 billion per year. The Bureau of Indian Education spends $850 million of that money per year on educating 42,000 students, which comes out to more than $20,000 per student per year – while the national average is about $12,500 per student. So money is not the problem. And, by the way, those two government agencies have about 9,000 employees, which pencils out to one bureaucrat for every 111 Native Americans still on a reservation.

What is the answer? End the trust system and government supervision, and bring in Liberty! As everyone knows, trusts are generally only used for children and incompetent adults. So that represents the low regard our system holds for Native Americans. Instead, transform the system slowly but steadily to disband these “protective” federal agencies and let the various tribes begin to make their own decisions (Can you imagine having a Bureau of Irish Descendants’ Affairs?! What arrogance, and how transparently silly!). Let Native Americans pursue and enjoy the benefits of the Free Enterprise System. Institute a system that allows the tribes and/or individuals to own their own land, which they then could improve, sell or use as collateral for loans to underwrite start-up businesses. Today, even though reservations contain about 50 percent of all of the potential uranium reserves and 20 percent of oil reserves in our country, Native Americans are prohibited from pursuing their development. And if they try to do things like that with their land, it takes 49 steps among four different federal agencies, thousands of dollars in application fees and about four years to get government approval. Furthermore, they should be empowered to take over the education of the children still remaining on reservations. It might in some ways have been justifiable in the early 1800s to give Native Americans “special government care,” but not today! Not now! Instead give them Liberty! What do they have to lose?

* Taken from The New Trail of Tears by Naomi Schaeffer Riley

Judge Jim Gray (Ret.)
2012 Libertarian candidate for Vice President,
along with Governor Gary Johnson as the candidate for President

Please forward this on to your circle of friends for their consideration, and to further the discussion. And by the way, these columns are now on Facebook and LinkedIn at judgejimgray, Twitter at judgejimgrayOAI, and wordpress at judgejimgray@wordpress.com. Please visit these sites for past editions, and do your part to spread the word about the importance of Liberty!

Friday, May 12, 2017

As has been said several times in this series, Liberty does not at all mean that “anything goes.” Instead, Liberty implies responsibility which, in turn, means that we must have laws which are enforceable and enforced. So what is the purpose of the law? Of course there are many, but one of the main purposes can be answered with one word: foreseeability. Obviously every action cannot be litigated, but with foreseeability, we all will generally know that if we act, or don’t act, in a particular fashion what the likely legal result will be.

So that is where attorneys come in. Attorneys study the laws and the past recorded cases that have been adjudicated in the courts which can be used for our guidance. Then attorneys both give advice about possible future actions, as well as opinions and strategy about how they believe present disputes about past actions would be resolved if they were to be litigated. So by and large, our Justice System is working. Yes, it could always be better, faster and less expensive, but in most instances it is providing the necessary foreseeability for us and our system to thrive. And this, in turn, promotes a society in which Liberty can also thrive and people can prosper.

Judge Jim Gray (Ret.)
2012 Libertarian candidate for Vice President,
along with Governor Gary Johnson as the candidate for President

Please forward this on to your circle of friends for their consideration, and to further the discussion. And by the way, these columns are now on Facebook and LinkedIn at judgejimgray, Twitter at judgejimgrayOAI, and wordpress atjudgejimgray@wordpress.com. Please visit these sites for past editions, and do your part to spread the word about the importance of Liberty.

Monday, May 8, 2017

I simply had to share this with my “2 Paragraphs” recipients, because it demonstrates what Liberty is doing in Nepal. Please read the enclosed explanation from my friend Ron Kohut, who is instrumental in bringing this clinic into being, and take a look at the YouTube video. You will once again be impressed and gratified what the private sector can do and is doing! Big time thanks to each one involved, and if you would like to learn more, feel free to contact Ron.

This video, which is focused on the work of the NRH’s, explains better than I can the work that you are making possible through your generosity. I am amazed that we can together accomplish so much from so far away. Our ability to do so is, in large part, as a result of 26 years of devoted and tireless spade work by Olga, Som, and the rest of the NYF family.
I had dinner last night with Olga and Som at Olga’s home in Sausalito. Olga lives in Sausalito six months a year and in Kathmandu the remaining six month. At 92, Olga is still going strong. You will see Olga and Som in this video. They both have the most unbelievable stories to tell…the rewards of long lives devoted to the betterment of the lives of others.

During dinner, I learned that the NRH is still on schedule to open on July 15th. We may be traveling to Nepal in November. Anyone interested in going should let me know.

Judge Jim Gray

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About Judge Jim Gray

Cited on numerous occasions for his work in the areas of both social reform and civic philanthropy, Judge James P. Gray currently presides over the civil trial calendar for the Superior Court of Orange County.
Judge Gray was appointed to the Santa Ana Municipal Court in 1983 by Governor George Deukmejian, and in 1989, Deukmejian elevated Gray to his post with the Superior Court.
Throughout his 29-year career within the legal and judicial community, Jim Gray has not only donated hundreds of hours of volunteer time to existing community service-oriented activities, he also has created and implemented a number of innovative programs of his own, each one a success story in itself.